Oregon Community Solar program

The Oregon Community Solar program gives customers the option to receive utility bill credits in exchange for buying or leasing part of a community solar project. Community solar projects are large solar systems, and can be located on buildings, like businesses, government buildings, schools or churches, or they can be free standing on the ground in an undeveloped area. Project managers develop and build community solar projects, and utility customers can subscribe to part of a project to receive credits on their electric bills.

How does this work? First, a project manager develops a community solar project. Then, a customer subscribes to the project by signing up with a project manager. When the community solar project begins generating clean energy, the participant will start receiving a credit on their utility bill for their portion of the electricity generated.

Steps for Customer Participation

1. Establish your eligibility

Oregon customers of Pacific Power, Portland General Electric and Idaho Power are eligible to participate in the Oregon Community Solar Program. You can participate if you are a resident (whether you own, rent or live in a single-family, multifamily or manufactured home) or a business (whether you own or rent your space).

2. Find a project

Project managers will be able to submit projects for consideration by the Oregon Community Solar Program in January 2020. Once projects are approved by the program and project managers begin building them, customers will be able to find active projects on the Community Solar Program website at oregoncsp.org. Customers will be able to connect directly with a project they are interested in joining through the program’s Find a Project web page. We expect the first projects to begin generating energy in late 2020 or 2021.

3. Subscribe to a community solar project

To subscribe to a community solar project, a customer must sign up with the project manager that is building or operating the project. Subscribers will sign a contract with the project manager for a portion of the solar system. Subscribers receive credits on their monthly electricity bills for the energy generated by their portion of a community solar project in the prior month.

FAQ

Where do I find my agreement number?

On your bill your agreement number is called “item” on the first page in the summary of accounts.

Where can I get my 12 months of history?

Sign in to "My Account", select "Usage Details" and then select "Download Usage History". This will get your 12 months of history for the program manager to appropriately size your subscription.

Where can I find information on the Oregon Community Solar program interconnection process?

Interconnection information for the Oregon Community Solar program is available at http://www.oasis.oati.com/ppw/index.html, by opening the “Generation Interconnection and TSR Queues” folder. Within that folder, you will find a link to Pacific Power’s Oregon CSP Interconnection queue, the Oregon CSP Interconnection Application, and the Oregon CSP Pre-Application request form.